Groundwater in Egypt issue: Resources, location, amount, contamination, protection, renewal, future overview

Abstract

THE PRESENT review is concerning with the groundwater issue in Egypt. Groundwater is one of the most important resources of water in Egypt. It ranks as the second source after the Nile River. In addition, there are different groundwater aquifers with variable importance for exploitation in the Nile river region. They are ranging from shallow local aquifers, recharged by rainfall, to deep non-replenishable aquifers. The first comprises groundwater in the Nile Valley and Delta system. The second aquifer category is the non-renewable type, which is located in the "Western Desert-Nubian Sandstone Aquifer". Non-renewable groundwater exploitation is estimated at a rate of 1.65 Billion m3/year (BCM/year). It is mainly concentrated at the Western Desert Oases with 0.5 BCM/yr. On the other side, the amount of groundwater abstractions in Delta, Sinai and New Valley are about 5.1 BCM/yr. It is estimated that about 200,000 BCM of fresh water are stored in the New Valley's Oasis aquifer only. The water is at the depth of 60-100 m around the area of East-Oweinat. In Sinai, groundwater is mainly encountered in three different water-bearing aquifers. Further information concerning groundwater issue in Egypt, locations, origin, amount, quality and quantities, contamination, natural aquifer treatment, protection, uses, future overview and conclusion are included and discussed in details in this review.